Dear Baseball Gods

Nothing is ever sure. I started the season, in 2011, with a new team that was getting a new ballpark in a new league. A month and half later, we were all scrambling to find new teams, abandoning the sinking ship. We weren’t getting paid, we were on the road for the first 7 weeks of the season, we flew overnight flights to every series. Exhausted, we found ways to win and were a part of one of the best stories in minor league baseball.

Nothing is ever sure. I started the season, in 2011, with a new team that was getting a new ballpark in a new league. A month and half later, we were all scrambling to find new teams, abandoning the sinking ship. We weren’t getting paid, we were on the road for the first 7 weeks of the season, we flew overnight flights to every series. Exhausted, we found ways to win and were a part of one of the best stories in minor league baseball.

I blew the game for the third time in a row. In the clubhouse after the game, the manager walked through to the coaches’ office, slammed the door, then basically screamed how he felt about me and my performance. It wasn’t pretty, and it drove me to find meditation, visualization, and the mental training that gave me incredible confidence and saved my career. What did he shout, for all my teammates to hear, and how did I respond? Tune in to find out.

I blew the game for the third time in a row. In the clubhouse after the game, the manager walked through to the coaches’ office, slammed the door, then basically screamed how he felt about me and my performance. It wasn’t pretty, and it drove me to find meditation, visualization, and the mental training that gave me incredible confidence and saved my career. What did he shout, for all my teammates to hear, and how did I respond? Tune in to find out.

Dan discusses the parent-athlete relationship and how parents can best support a happy, healthy career in sports.

Dan discusses the parent-athlete relationship and how parents can best support a happy, healthy career in sports.

Host families, hotels, training room floors, dorm rooms, crowded one-bedroom apartments shared by five teammates? Yep, that’s life on the road. I share some stories from my time living with host families, with a hoarder, sleeping in the clubhouse and spending my summer on an air mattress. Tune in for the real story of the places I slept, and where countless players before me laid their heads.

Host families, hotels, training room floors, dorm rooms, crowded one-bedroom apartments shared by five teammates? Yep, that’s life on the road. I share some stories from my time living with host families, with a hoarder, sleeping in the clubhouse and spending my summer on an air mattress. Tune in for the real story of the places I slept, and where countless players before me laid their heads.

Kevin Vance returns to the show to talk spin rate and how it affects a pitcher’s arsenal, approach, and ability to get hitters out. We discuss best practices in teaching pitchers to pitch and share stories about how each of us pitched based on our spin rate. We also talked about pitch tunneling, sabermetrics and how baseball analytics are changing the game, and what we can do to bridge the gap between stats guys and baseball guys.

Kevin Vance returns to the show to talk spin rate and how it affects a pitcher’s arsenal, approach, and ability to get hitters out. We discuss best practices in teaching pitchers to pitch and share stories about how each of us pitched based on our spin rate. We also talked about pitch tunneling, sabermetrics and how baseball analytics are changing the game, and what we can do to bridge the gap between stats guys and baseball guys.